


Back into The Maze

by AliceMalefoy



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 05:06:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7701922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceMalefoy/pseuds/AliceMalefoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nobody survives a night in the maze, that's the first thing they tell you. That should be enough the scare off a bunch of kids and prevent them from doing the unspeakable. But when her best friend doesn't return from the god forsaken place before dusk, Scarlett doesn't think twice before jumping head first in the greever's den.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back into The Maze

They always told her that all of them have gone through the same. They woke up in a box, surrounded by food and other supplies, and the box went up, like an elevator, it lasted hours before they finally reached their destination. When they arrived, there were a bunch of teenage boys leaned over the box, peeking a look at them, as if they were curious creatures, and then, they were brought out, in the Glade. And suddenly, they had to take in a lot of information at the same time while simultaneously wanting to ask a hundred questions, staring with: Why can’t I remember anything? The Homestead, the Deadheads, the Pit, the Glade, the Maze, shuck, shank, slinthead, slim it, good that, klunk, jacked, Greenie, Newbie, and so on, and no questions allowed.   
Then there came the traditional tour, and the rules. Yeah, Alby’s beloved rules.   
Do your part.  
Do not harm another glader.  
Don’t ever go beyond the walls.  
Then again, it was a lot of information at once, but is wasn’t like they had much things in mind, for the Creators took care of erasing their memory. All of it, except their name.  
“It’s the one thing they let us keep,” Alby told her when she first arrived. He also said that her name would resurface in her memory in a day of two. So she nodded and kept her questions for herself. Most of the boys gave her weird looks. Half of them were shamelessly eye-eating her as if she was a piece of fresh meat, and the other half looked at her the way you look at a bug. She meant trouble, that’s for sure. The first girl to arrive in over a year? Why now? Why her? Just a couple more questions to add to the endless list.   
“Newt!” Alby shouted to a blond boy, who titled his head up at the call. “Can you come for a second?” He then turned back to the girl. “We never do that usually, but given that you’re a girl and the way some guys here look at you, we’ll let you have a room. You better lock it when you’re sleeping,” he advised her, the corner of his mouth slightly turning up. It was the first time ever since she arrived a few hours ago that Alby’s expression seemed to actually soften and she didn’t know if he was joking or if he found the situation amusing, but anyway, she’d lock herself tonight. The blond boy – Newt – finally arrived.  
“Newt, I was gonna ask Chuck to do that, but since we have some complications, you’re in charge of the Newbie,” the tanned boy decided and Newt furrowed his brows. “I have to talk to Minho, you can have your day off, and you’ll be showing her around tomorrow. “ The girl – it was strange for her to think about herself in the third person just because she couldn’t remember her name – shook her head in annoyance. How rude! Speaking about her as though she wasn’t there. Before walking away, Alby turned around and mouthed something to Newt, which looked like “keep an eye on her”.  
“Alright, my name’s Newt, what’s yours?” The boy asked in a friendly tone. He didn’t mean no harm, but the girl answered coldly.  
“I don’t know.” Maybe it was a little too harsh, he didn’t do anything wrong after all, but now it was too late. “Sorry, but it’s so frustrating!” She then added, no wanting to upset him because he seemed nice and he was one of the rare ones who didn’t look at her like she was some kind of dessert.   
“I understand, you’ll remember your name soon, don’t worry,” he smiled, breaking the tensed atmosphere. “I guess you have numerous questions, so let’s start with that love,” he suggested before gesturing her to go to the shelters. As they began to walk, the girl asked her questions, causing Newt to smile at her rambling, but more important than getting answers, she just felt the need to talk after spending the day being silent.  
*  
“Is anyone bothering you?” Chuck asked at the same time Newt sat down next to her. She was sitting on a tree trunk and Newt sprawled on the ground, leaned against the trunk, with his plate of mashed potatoes in hand. Four days passed since she came up and the only persons she talked to were Newt, Chuck, Alby and Frypan – mostly because she couldn’t avoid speaking to the last two.   
“Someone upset my girl?” Newt asked playfully as he stole a carrot from her plate. She tapped his hand away and shook her head.  
“No, I’m fine,” she said, emphasizing the ‘fine’ and giving the big eyes to Chuck. But the young boy was focused on his food and didn’t see it.  
“A glader tried to sneak in her room last night,” he said distractedly, not noticing Newt’s body tense up. “We don’t know who it was.” Chuck added before stuffing his mouth with food, making it impossible to speak.  
“He didn’t manage to get in though,” she quickly informed Newt was giving her the ‘why didn’t you tell me’ look. She thought she was a weigh for him at first, when Alby assigned him to her, but even now, he still followed her around to make sure she was okay or to ask how her day was. He stuck with her and it was nice to know that he was there, but she wasn’t going to bother him with small things like that. “I swear I’m fine Newt,” she repeated when he was about to protest. “If it keeps happening, I’ll tell Alby.”  
“Good that,” he eventually gave in, seeing that she wasn’t going to let him hunt down the shank who bothered the only Lady around here. Chuck told them in details how his day went, making a point to tell them about Adam, another glader – a builder according to him – who got yelled at by Gally for a solid half hour because he caught him engraving his name in every piece of wood he could find. It wasn’t very interesting overall, but Chuck was so enthusiastic about it that nor Newt neither the She-bean thought about interrupting him. But it was getting late and Chuck yawned a few times, until they told him to go sleep. Most of the gladers were slowly leaving the bonfire, and walked back to their hammocks or bunks.  
“Aren’t you tired?” The girl asked Newt before grabbing his drink and taking a sip. She was trying to get used to Gally's beverage, but it tasted bloody awful. Newt laughed when she made a face and handed him his drink back.   
“You’ll get used to it!” He assured her. “And to answer the question: no I’m not tired. I get to sleep in a real bed every night, not like those shuck faces,” he said, gesturing to the dorm, where most of them slept.   
“So you have a room too? How come?” She asked out of curiosity and also because she didn’t want to let the conversation die. When she was alone with Newt, it was one of the rare moments she felt free to speak her mind.   
“Being Second in Command has its perks I guess…” Newt said evasively, his eyes becoming darker all of a sudden. “And also because of my leg.” She could hear by the tone of his voice that he didn’t want to talk about it, but she couldn’t help herself.  
“Yeah, your limp…” she muttered. “How’d you get that?”   
Maybe it was too soon to ask that question, she thought right after asking it. It seemed like a veil fell in front of Newt’s eyes, but he quickly recomposed himself and shook his head, as if nothing happened.  
“You know what? I’ll tell you another time. It’ll ruin the mood!” He tried to smile but his weak attempt didn’t fool her. “Do you- do you remember it now?” He eventually asked, shyly.  
Now it was her turn to look away and shake her head.   
“No. I can’t remember.” She had been trying so hard to remember her name, but nothing came. Absolutely nothing. She honestly would have killed to have a mirror, just to take a look at herself, try to revive a memory, whatever! But the only thing she could remember was her scar. When she took a shower last night, when washing her back, she felt something tickle. Her fingers touched a sensible skin on her back and followed the outline of it. A long and probably quite deep scar was marking her back, from her left shoulder to the small of her back, and when her fingers brushed over the injury, a flash of memory washed over her. A vivid feeling of pain, sadness and betrayal. As if someone dear to her heart did this to her.   
When she looked at Newt, staring at her with those big eyes full of kindness, she wanted to tell him. After looking around to check if anyone could see them, she sat down on the ground in front of him and yanked off her shirt.  
“Wow what are you doing?” The blond boy exclaimed, taken aback by the sudden turn of the events. But she didn’t answer and simply turned around to show him her back. “What…?” Newt didn’t finish his sentence, but the girl could feel his eyes on her. A couple of minutes later, he allowed himself to touch the thick line crossing her back, his fingertips feeling fresh against her back, especially in the hot air of the evening.   
“I remember this, that’s all.” She told him as she grabbed her tank top and put it back on. When her eyes met his gaze, she saw how confused he was. Newt was scanning her as though it could help him understand. “A scar. All I get to remember from my former life is a huge, ugly scar on my back and the unpleasant feeling of someone I love doing this to me. No name.” She snickered bitterly before running her fingers through her hair impatiently. Right now, all she wanted to do was to scream at the top of her lungs.  
“A scar. Scarred. Scar! Yeah, that’s it!” Newt mumbled before shouting victory. She looked at him with a puzzled face.  
“What are you talking about?” She raised an eyebrow.  
“You can’t remember your name, so you’ll have to choose one!” He said as if it was the most obvious thing. “Scar. Scarlett. What do you think?” He suggested her just when she was about to ask him what the hell it had to do with her scar. Her eyebrows knitted together in concentration as she thought about it. He was right about one thing, she couldn’t just keep not having a name, though it helped being the only girl among thirty or so boys, but it was getting on her nerves. Plus, if her wounded back was all they allowed her to keep from her past life, it had to mean something. It was part of her after all, right?  
“Sounds good to me,” she shrugged, but a little smile crept on her face. Newt gave her a pat on the shoulder.  
“C’mon, don’t act so jaded, I know you like it, Scarlett,” he teased her and she gave it, smiling bigger than she ever did those last four days.   
*  
[A year later]  
“Minho!” Scarlett called her co-runner, jogging to the homestead. “Minho, have you seen Newt? I’ve been looking for him for an hour now! The Glade isn’t that big, I should’ve found him by now!” A crease of worry crossed her forehead as she frowned her eyebrows, waiting for an answer.  
The Asian boy, who was sitting on a bench with a bunch of other gladers, resting after a long day of running through the maze. Scarlett caught the swift glare he gave to Jeff and she put her hands on her hips.   
“Minho, tell me.” She stated, determinate to get a proper answer. Through the last year, the boys had learned not to get on her nerves when she used her mother-grizzly voice. She could be the sweetest girl ever, but when it was about Newt, everybody better not upset her. The two of them had a passive-possessive relationship, and no one even thought about getting in between them. Ever since the year, she hadn’t shown any interest in any of the boys who were whistling her, but when Newt talked to her, her face lit up and her expression softened. The hell if they were aware of each other’s feelings! But it amused Minho, more than anyone, and if he felt like hiding something from her – something that concerned Newt – than it must be serious.  
“Don’t worry, he should be there soon,” he said evasively, barely meeting her worried gaze. Taking of sip of Gally’s awful cocktail, Minho turned to face his friends again, but Scarlett wasn’t going to let got hat easily.   
“I’m not taking any of your klunk, Minho!” She argued, slamming her hand on his shoulder and making him turn around. Her eyes locked with his and he seemed to jump slightly on his seat. Never get onto Mother grizzly’s nerves. “Where is he?”  
“Scarlett!” A familiar voice called her name and she let go of Minho, who sighed in relief. A lanky blond boy was making his way towards her, a crooked smile plastered onto his face. Alby was following his steps, but he wasn’t smiling at all. Yesterday, she had a banishment. Alby always seemed to be in a dark mood after a banishing, even though most of them simply acted like nothing never happened – it was just easier to cope with this situation that way. Newt limped over to her, his ankle seeming to bother him more than usually.   
“Why y’all looking at me?” Newt asked when he reached the table, everyone still looking at him in awe, their eyes switching from Scarlett to him.   
“He’s here,” Minho said, breaking the awkward silence.   
“Thanks for the breaking news, dude,” she rolled her eyes and titled her head back towards Newt. “I’ve been looking for you, where have you been?” Scarlett wanted to sound upset but she was glad to see him. The question seemed to make him uncomfortable though.  
“I’m bloody starvin’, let’s get something to eat, yeah?” He suggested, scratching the back of his neck and looking away from her. She forced herself to shut her mouth when she was about to make an out-burst, because obviously Newt wanted to talk to her privately, so she nodded and followed him to the kitchen when he walked away.   
“Hey!” She called him but Newt maintained his quick pace steady and she had to run to catch up on him and stood before him, a hand on his chest to make him stop. “Newt, what’s the matter? Are you alright?”   
“Yeah, never been better,” he spitted out, immediately regretting it when meeting her worried gaze. He never shouted at her or was mean with her. “Sorry, it’s been a klunk of a day….” He sighed, rubbing his face with both his hands. “It’s Ben, he-“  
“He’s alive?!” She cut him off, her eyes growing wide at the thought of someone surviving the night in the maze. Newt’s expression turned soft but something about his smile felt wrong.  
“No, love, no one survives to the maze, ya know that bloody well….” He shook his head in defeat. “Alby wanted to retrace Ben’s footsteps to see where it’d lead us,” he explained as they continued to make their way to the kitchen.   
“Wait, who ‘us’? Who went with Alby?” Scarlett questioned him further. She already had a good idea about that, but she still hoped he’d deny it.  
“Me, Scar!” Newt exclaimed. “Me obviously, don’t act like you don’t know it’s me,” he really seemed at the edge of breaking down now and she knew why. How could Alby do that to him? It was so cruel. Newt was terrified of the maze, and more than anyone else, he had good reasons. It constantly reminded him of his accident. The pressure, the stress and the fear of not getting out in time. Something that Scarlett understood very well, for she experienced that every day when she ran the maze with Minho and the boys. She wanted to ask him if he was okay, if he wanted to talk about it, but she knew it’d upset him. He didn’t seem to want to talk about it at all.   
“I’m gonna talk to Alby”, she decided, ready to storm away and find their leader to tell him what she thought about his attitude towards his second in command.   
“Wait, wait wait!” Newt got a grip of her arm before she got the chance to turn on her heels and yell at Alby. “It- It’s okay, I agreed to that.”  
The least to say was that she didn’t expect this. Scarlett laid on him a startled gaze as she let the words sink in. Why would Newt do that? Was he up for another death wish?   
“You’re not doing this because you want to…?” She asked carefully, left her sentence unfinished, but he understood what she was thinking about right away.  
“No! Of course not, are ya out of your brain?” Newt huffed. “I’m just- I feel useless sometimes, ya know?”   
“No I don’t get it.” The girl crossed her arms on her chest waiting for an answer.  
“I mean, y’all doing your job and running through the maze to find a way out of this shuck place even if we had no clue as to whether or not there is a single chance we’d get out of there, and I’m just walking around the glade every lovin’ day of my lovin’ life, doing nothing but checking if the others actually get something done!” Newt rambled, his hands flying in all directions while doing so. “I just wanted to do something useful for once!”  
“What you’re saying is completely nonsense,” Scarlett shrugged while saying that, earning an angered glare from the boy. “You’re working your butt off to make sure everyone’s okay and no one feels forgotten. Most importantly, you’re the one keeping us all together, fixing Alby’s klunk when he goes all harsh and switched to ‘dictator mode’ so no one eventually decided to lead a bloody rebellion, god dammit Newt, never say again that you’re useless!” Her eyebrows were knitted together in confusion and frustration as she went on about how stupid this idea was and that he better never mention that ever again in front of her if he didn’t want to get his ass kicked. She withdrew her hand from Newt’s arm when he looked over her shoulder, clearly not intending to meet her eyes.   
“You have nothing to prove, Newt,” she sighed, about to give up when he finally looked down, his brown eyes darker than usual.   
“Yes I do, love,” he state in a way that clearly ending the conversation there. “Now c’mon, I don’t want to get in a fight with you. I’m tired and you’re the only person I feel like hanging out with tonight,” he told her, laying a soft gaze upon her, his pleading eyes asking her not to argue with that. She eventually nodded and both of them calmly walked away, hoping that Frypan wouldn’t be mad because dinner time was over.   
“Did you find anything interesting?” She asked after a while.  
“Nah, you’re going back tomorrow and if we still don’t find anything, then it’ll be over,” Newt shrugged but the look on his face showed just how disappointed he was that his first run through the maze in over a year didn’t bring anything.  
“Newt-“ Scarlett started, taking his hand in hers. She knew it would be pointless to try to convince him not to go, but she needed Newt to know that she wasn’t endorsing that.  
“It’s fine. I can do it, I know I can do it.”  
She wanted to agree with him. Yeah, she wanted to tell him ‘of course you can!’ she wanted to lie and say that if anyone could do it, it was him. But it would have taken too much for her to lie to Newt. The maze broke him, and it awaited to do it again ever since Newt jumped off that shuck wall and hurt himself.   
Scarlett squeezed his hand and Newt smiled to her.  
*  
[The next day]  
“No!” She screamed, the cry burning her sore throat, for she has been trying to reason them all. “Let me go! You god damn klunk-for-brains shank, I said get your bloody hands off of me!” She yelled at Gally who was holding her back. He had a firm grip on both her wrist and kept them behind her back so she couldn’t run away. “Minho! Do something! I swear, if you don’t-“  
“Shut up, princess,” Gally order her. “We can’t risk your ass for him. Either you make it or you die.”  
“Why, sorry for not being a heartless shank!” She grumbled under her breath, trying to swallow back her pride. “I don’t care about your bloody rules! Rules are made too be broken, and that’s exactly what I’m about to do! Now for fuck’s sake Minho! Help me out!” She looked over at her co-runner and he looked away, unable to bear the look she was giving him. In defeat, Scarlett let her head fall down.   
It was too late. In a few minutes – if not seconds – the walls would close and Newt still didn’t come back. Everything she feared the most was happening. Not being trapped outside, not having someone else being trapped. No, none of this was enough. It had to be Newt. Newt had to be the one who wouldn’t make it back before the walls close.   
“Please, please…” Her shoulders began to shake. They first thought she was crying but only god knows what could make this girl cry because in one year, she didn’t allow a single tear to escape, not even that one time Frypan asked her to cut the onions. “I cant’- I cannot leave him out there.”  
Gally made the mistake to loosen his grip on her and she fell down, dropping onto her knees.   
“Leave her alone,” Minho eventually stated before Gally had a chance to tighten his grip on her again. “I’ll watch her.”   
The builder hesitated for a second but when she let out a muffled sob, he nodded his head and walked away, obviously not comfortable with having a crying mess under his charge. As soon as he was out of sight, Scarlett rose her head, stainless and tearless and Minho began to untie the cords around her wrists.   
“I know I’ll regret it, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you two were separated because of me,” he explained quickly, helping her up and pacing up, almost running to the East door. It was the kind of reflection she usually told everybody to keep for themselves or to shove it up their asses, but now she was just grateful for Minho to be there and to understand. “We have to hurry, someone’s going to see you’re missing.” They finally reached the door and Minho handed her his harness and a long knife she tied on her belt, before taking off his watch and giving her as well. “You have seven minutes starting from now, you better make it back in one piece, or I’ll end you myself!” He said, pushing her into the maze and the girl ran away after giving him one last thankful look.   
Seven minutes wasn’t much and the fact that Minho had put on the time one his watch before giving it to her only added to her stress. She didn’t know where to go, so she followed her instinct.  
Six minutes left and she turned right, left, left again and then right. She knew where she was but without knowing where Newt went, it’ll take a bit more than six minutes to find him. He retraced Ben’s footsteps, but where the hell did Ben go?   
Five minutes left and her heart was beating so fast it was threatening to jump out of her chest any time. Scarlett felt like throwing up. She stopped and took a second to think about where he could be. Obviously he cannot still be in one of the eight sections, he must be near the glade, trying to get out of the maze before the doors close. She turned on her heels and began to run in another direction, searching in the nearest corridors of the maze, trying to find clues of his passage.   
Four minutes. Almost half of the time and she didn’t even run a quarter of the corridors he could be in, trying to find his way out. Maybe she was wrong, maybe he was lost in one of the sections! He didn’t go into the maze for over a year, he couldn’t remember the patterns. She turned left. And right. Then left aga-  
“Aaarf!” She heard a voice groan and when she realized she had just bumped into someone and was now laying on the ground, Scarlett couldn’t help the huge smile that appeared on her face and she threw herself in Newt’s arms.   
“S-Scarlett? What the shuck are you doing here, you should be in the Glade!” He seemed angry though he hugged her back but quickly released her for they didn’t have a second to lose. “We have to go back, now!” Newt said, looking all around him as if he was trying to decide where they should go.  
Nodding in agreement, the girl grabbed his hand and showed him the direction, pulling him forwards. She knew she’d run faster if she let him go, but with his limp, Newt couldn’t keep up the pace and she’d out distance him in no time. No, she wouldn’t let go, she tightened her grip on his hand and he quickened their race, running alongside with her through every bloody corridor.  
One minute left. Fifty nine seconds left. Fifty eight…  
“We’re almost there!” She wanted to urge him to run faster but she knew he was already giving everything he had and she couldn’t ask more of him. Newt’s eyes were crazy, giving panicked looks all around him, looking as if he was losing his mind between those high walls covered in ivy.   
They turned around a corner and there it was. The door, with Minho and Gally and every other gladers gathered on the other side screaming their names as soon as their entered their field of vision. But their encouragement didn’t help them go faster, they didn’t prevent the walls from closing. Without even noticing it, Scarlett realized she had let go of Newt’s hand and she was now running for her dear life, racing so fast she’d closed the distance between her and the glade in a few seconds but the time seemed to slow down when she looked over her shoulder to make sure Newt was still behind her. And he was behind her, far behind her. His uneven pace and painful ankle didn’t allow him to go any faster and suddenly she realized what he did. He let go of her hand so she could make it. Without him.   
She stopped running, a couple of steps away from the door, still hearing the boys calling her name in desperation but not listening a bit of it. And before Newt even managed to join her, the walls had closed with a loud thud.   
They were trapped.   
“No!” Newt shouted his face turning red from anger. “No, no no! Why would you do that?!” He had reached her position now and he was towering over her, giving her crazed glares. It took her aback when she felt him grab her wrists and pin her against the closed doors, hurting her when her head hit the rock. “Why did you stop? TELL ME WHY!” He yelled at her, not giving her a second to answer. He needed to let his frustration come out one way of another. “You’re so shuckin’ stupid Scarlett! You could’ve made it!”  
“Calm the shuck down, Newt!” She replied, getting rid of his grip. “You’re hurting me!”  
This seemed to get him out of his trance and he let go of her, taking a step back.   
“S-sorry,” he looked away though he clearly wouldn’t give up until she answered, even if he apologized for hurting her. “Why’d you stop?”  
“You were so far behind!” She said, shaking her head and burying it in her palms. “Don’t think I don’t know why you let go of my hand! But I couldn’t just leave you behind while I was safe and sound back into the Glade!”  
“YES!” Newt shouted once again. “Yes, you could have! And that’s what I wanted you to do!” The blond boy seemed to succumb to panic, his breathing hitched slightly.   
“Calm down Newt,” Scarlett soothed him, trying to get his attention by cupping his face with her hands, making him look at her. “Breath in and out, slowly, yes, like this…” It took a couple of minutes before Newt had recomposed himself and his brown eyes stared at her softly, like the calm after the storm. “You alright?” She asked, earning a little nod. “Good that.”  
“We can’t stay here,” he noted and she agreed, taking his hands again and carefully leading them away from the door, walking this time. “Seems like we both chose our day to be late for the door closing, yeah?” He said playfully, but his attempt to joke was greeted by silence. Not wasting a second, she continued to lead them through the maze, trying to get away from whatever sound could have meant a griever was near them.  
Hours later, they stopped walking and sat down in a silent corridor, hidden behind a corner in hope to spend the rest of the night like that, with preferably no griever in sight. It was two in the morning, they had to last four more hours before the doors open again.  
“Scar,” Newt called her in a whisper and she snapped her head towards him, almost hurting her neck. She was so tired she could have fallen asleep right on the spot if it wasn’t for Newt talking every now and then. “Why are you here? You’ve never been late, I know it, you’re always an hour early… what happened?”  
It was the question she anticipated ever since they got trapped, ‘coz she knew he’d be mad for what she did. Lying wasn’t an option though.  
“I was,” she simply said. “Early,” she added when he gave her a questioning look. “But not you.”  
“You- you made it to the Glade and went back into the maze because of me?” He almost squealed while saying the last part as if the very idea of it was nonsense to him. But he quickly understood what it implied and if they weren’t busy hiding from the grievers, he would have yelled. “Are you out of your bloody mind, why were you thinkin’?!” She whisper-shouted, earning a frankly annoyed glare.  
“I don’t care!”  
“Yes you shuckin’ do! Ya think I’m worth this kind of heroic sacrifice? You knew you wouldn’t be back in time but you still threw yourself head first in the lion’s den! What’s wrong with you?” Newt didn’t see the slap coming but he clearly felt it when her hand met his cheek.   
He stared at her, puzzled, but it obviously worked since it made him calm down.  
“It’s not up to you to decide for who I can risk my bloody life!” Scarlett whisper-shouted back before her expression softened. “I’d rather be here with you than be safely hidden in the Glade, wondering whether or not you’re still alive! If anything happened to you I’d-“ But she couldn’t finish her sentence, the words were stuck in the back of her throat. Tears began to build up in her eyes and Scarlett swallowed them down before Newt could see them. He didn’t need to though, he knew exactly just how much it’d hurt, because he’d feel the same way if she was in danger.   
“Come here,” he opened his arms and she shifted closer to him. She was about to protest when she felt him lifting her up and placing in his lap, her legs over his thighs, but she bit her tongue. “I’m sorry for steaming off on you, you didn’t do anything wrong, I’m just- this place and everything’s just so-“ He stammered, struggling to find the words.  
“I know,” she said, reassuring him.  
“But I still think it was stupid to follow me into the maze,” he eventually added, causing a little smile to cross her face. Scarlett was still curled up against Newt and she didn’t respond to said. Both of them seemed to be content like this and they spent the following hour in that position.   
Two hours and a half before the opening of the doors.  
“Did you hear that?” Newt asked suddenly, losing his grip on her so he could take a peek at what was happening around the corner of the wall. A distant clicking noise was to be heard and they both pricked up their ears. “Gotta move, love,” Newt whispered as he stood up swiftly, wincing when doing so, his ankle obviously giving him a hard time.   
“Follow me,” she told him, getting the two of them further into the maze, but away from the griever coming this way. A loud thud made them stop and the panicked look on their faces was speaking for them, really.   
“Hurry up!” She told him, even though she was aware of his limp hurting him more by each step. Another inhuman scream came from the corridor they just took and Scarlett froze on the spot, causing Newt to bump into her. “We can’t go there, they are everywhere,” her voice was imbued with fright and worry as Newt grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down.  
“Here, we can hide under the ivy, it’s thick enough for both of us!” He pointed out, already crawling under the thick leaves and their branches, bringing her close to his chest and pulling the branches back over them. After making sure she was completely covered in leaves, Scarlett wrapped her arms around Newt’s neck, trying to be as small as possible so the grievers wouldn’t notice them. That is, if they use their eyes and not their… other senses, to find them. A pair of toned arms wrapped tightly around her waist and Newt’s chin rested on top of her head.   
“It’s okay, it’s okay….” He soothed her, his thumb distractedly rubbing her back through her shirt. She highly doubted he said that for her, Newt was giving panicked looks all around him and he tried to convince himself that they could make it. While her head was resting on his chest, Scarlett heard his heart beat abnormally fast and loud, it was almost worrying at this point. Suddenly, he held in his breath.  
The terrible cry of a griever’s scream made her miss a heartbeat and Scarlett tightened her grip around Newt’s neck. If it wasn’t for their short breathing, they would have been surrounded by complete silence before a metallic noise broke it. And another. The threatening noise of a griever’s steel limbs approached towards them and nor Newt neither Scar would’ve been able to tell how long it lasted until it eventually turned around the corner and continued his way. It felt like they stopped breathing for a minute or two and they stayed hidden under the ivy for a while, not daring to get out so short after the passage of the griever.   
When they couldn’t keep that position any longer, Scarlett carefully crawled out of the ivy, helping Newt up and taking the lead once again, despite Newt’s constant gasps, every time he put too much weight on his bad leg.   
“Let’s stop here,” she decided, unable to bear seeing Newt groan from pain at every step. “It seems to be safe, anyway.”  
“No, we have to keep going!” He argued, but she was already sitting down. “I’ll survive, Scar, it’s just a sore ankle!”  
“You know it’s not, it’s serious,” she gave him a stern look and he flinched. “I’m not changing my mind Newt. I already told you I’m not leaving you behind.”  
“This isn’t something to joke about!” Newt grumbled, running his fingers through his messy blond hair, seeming utterly annoyed. “Don’t ya understand that it’s a shuckin’ matter of life and death?!” His voice rose a bit he knew he couldn’t talk too loud. “I’m not letting you die because I’m not running fast enough!”  
“I’m not leaving you,” she repeated again, making him groan in frustration.   
“Stop saying that!” He shouted, his voice echoing through the endless corridors of the maze. Jumping on her feet, Scarlett took his hand and walked away with him, not wanting to meet another griever because of Newt’s outburst. But while she was pulling him along with her, she felt his shake and it made her slow down. “I-I don’t wanna fight with you, Scar, I don’t- I just don’t know what to do. If anything happens, I won’t be able to protect you, I’m not any help…”  
Spinning on her heels, Scarlett locked her eyes with Newt’s sad ones and took a deep breath.   
“I don’t need no knight in a shining armor, Newt. You’re not supposed to protect me, I already told you, you have nothing to prove!” She tried to convince him but he simply shook his head, looking away.   
“And I told you that you were wrong…” He sighed.  
“What do you want to prove then? And to who? Who the shuck is worth so much trouble?!” Scarlett asked him, trying to make him realize that no one was worth that kind of trouble. “Is it Alby?”  
“Alby ? Why, no! Can’t you bloody see it?” He looked genuinely puzzled that she didn’t get it. “It’s you.”  
A frown appeared on her forehead.  
“What would you feel the need to prove me?”   
“That I deserve my place here, that I’m capable! That I can bloody take care of you! Do you know how klunk it makes me feels to stay hidden behind those walls while you go out there risking your life every day?” As he rambled about his so called uselessness, Scarlett’s gaze became soft and a small smile spread across her face.  
“We’re here to take care of each other, it’s doesn’t just go one way, ya know,” she stated. Newt’s entire body was shaking for it was cold and they had been running around the maze all night long, but it wasn’t that that made him tremble like that.   
They were interrupted by the disgusting sound of flesh moving on the dirty ground.   
“We have to go!” Scarlett whispered but Newt grabbed her arm, making her stay in place.  
“No, wait, I have to tell you something!” He urged her to stay but the look she gave him clearly indicated how scared she was with a griever lurking in a corridor near from them. “I know you’re not leaving me, you made it pretty clear, but if we fall face to face with a griever-“  
“Newt, cut it short!”  
“If we meet a griever and you have a chance to run away, promise me you’ll do it,” he gave her a serious look, as if he’d let go of her arm only if she agreed to that, but she shook her head.   
“No.”  
“Promise, Scar. I need you to promise. I’m not saying I’ll surrender without even fighting, I want to live too! But I need to know that you’ll do anything in your power to make it out.” He insisted, not loosening for a bit his grip on her. “Please?”  
“Sure,” she eventually nodded, after a second of hesitation. “Now can we go, please?”  
“I can only do that if I know you’ll be safe, promise!”  
“I promise, god dammit Newt! Let’s go now!”  
“I’m not finished yet!”  
Her heart beat was breaking speed records by now and her eyes kept switching from Newt to the end of the corridor, anticipation their soon-to-be meeting with a griever.   
“I have to tell you something, just in case we don’t make it, there’s something I need you to know-“  
“Shut up, Newt, we don’t have time for this!” Tears were starting to show up in the corner of her eyes but Newt seemed determined to say what he wanted to tell her.  
“Please listen to me, it’s important. If we can’t make it through the night, I want you to know that-“  
But she didn’t allow him to finish and grabbed him by his collar with her free hand, making him lean down and captured his lips. To say that he was surprised was the biggest understatement, Newt couldn’t believe what was happening. He barely had the time to kiss her back before she broke the kiss all too soon.   
“You’ll tell me when we get out of here,” she told him. Newt was left speechless and Scarlett took the occasion to grab his hand and led them away.   
One hour left.  
For a while they ran non-stop. If it wasn’t for Minho’s watch, they wouldn’t know how long they wandered through the maze, never going too far away from the doors, ready to run out of this bloody maze as soon as dawn shows up.   
Twenty minutes left.  
“We’ll make it,” Scarlett cheered in a whisper, finally allowing herself to hope. She turned to face Newt who looked beyond tired and ready to collapse. “We’ve almost done it, Newt! Only a few minutes left, we’re not going to die!” The way she looked at him with her big eyes, her face lighting up when she met his gaze, made him smile genuinely for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. Her cheeriness rubbed off on him and Newt pulled her in a hug, laughing silently. The sky was already lighting up, turning redder by the minute as the sun rose up in the sky.   
“Yeah, we made it, we made it…” he uttered against her ear, feeling her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders as if he was her life buoy. He wanted to taste her lips again.  
“The others won’t believe their eyes…” she laughed warmly but stopped when she felt Newt’s body tense up, freezing in her arms. “Newt? What’s th-“  
“Pschut!” He hushed her, and she fell silent. “Don’t move.”  
From the corner of his eye, he was an indistinct form approach with a muffled noise, growing louder as it came closer.  
“Run,” he whispered.   
*  
She couldn’t tell what happened exactly when she saw that griever, but something definitely clicked in her and Newt didn’t need to tell her twice to run, for she was already racing through the corridors, encouraged by Newt’s constant calls to show her that he was right behind. Her ears were whistling and her heart racing even faster than her feet. Scarlett felt her stomach make a knot and she felt the urge to stop running and puke. She’d never seen a griever before, and it was hideous. A huge mass of bloody flesh with mechanic arms and all sorts of deadly weapons – thorns, rotary saws, blades – sticking out of its body. The thing didn’t seem to have eyes of a mouth for what she saw – and she was intending to turn around to have a closer look, she already saw more than enough.   
When she noticed the absence of Newt’s calls, it was already too late.   
Scarlett slowed down her pace to take a look over her shoulder and when she did so she almost tripped over her feet. She stumbled a few more meters away from him before turning on her heels and ran back towards him. Newt was still running but at a slower pace for his limp made him feel like he was dying. When he spotted her running in his direction instead of going towards the doors. They were already in sight, still closed though.   
“No! Scar, no! Turn around!” He screamed in vain. She couldn’t hear his desperate shouts, the sound of her own heart beats deafened her and he was too far away from where she was.   
“Newt! Run! RUN!” Her screams barely reached his ears. Newt knew they out ran the griever, but it seemed like a whole bunch of them were close, the repulsing sound of moving flesh and the ticking of their limbs scratching against the walls.   
It took her less than a minute to reach his position but when she finally did, when Newt was at arm distance, a piercing and beastly scream came from the left. A reddish mass appeared from a corridor on their left and Scarlett’s first instinct was to push Newt aside, merely realizing she’d hurt him and he fell to the ground, knocked out. Then, a flash of terrible pain ran through her body. Her back hurt like hell and it momentarily withdrew the air from her lungs. The last thing she saw before falling into unconsciousness, was Newt’s body laying against the wall, half covered in ivy and blood staining his temple.   
*  
“Shut up!”  
“Get ya ass up, shuck face!”  
“Everybody go back to your business!”  
“Is she dead?”  
“What happened?”  
“How’s it even possible?”  
The voices around her felt like hammers to her sore head. The voice that she recognized as Alby’s told them to shut up and go back to work once again and some of the voices faded. The only one she could still hear were Minho’s, Gally’s and Alby’s voice. But she didn’t want to hear them and shut her mind. Scarlett knew very well what they must be talking about. Minho gets scolded for letting her go back into the maze, Gally shouting at him and demanding to get him punished, Alby trying to deal with their klunk. But what she paid attention to was Newt’s absence. What happened? Where was he? If she survived to the griever, he must have made it too. Or did she hurt him worse than she thought? His head hit the wall and it knocked him out when she pushed him out of the way. Oh god, please, let Newt be safe.   
“She’s waking up!” Jeff, the Medjack who was silent until now, spoke up. Scarlett opened her eyes only to close them again for the bright daylight blinded her. She opened her mouth to speak but an unbearable pain made her wince in pain, biting her lip not to scream, Scarlett swore out loud.  
“I’d stay in that bed if I were you”, Alby’s calm voice stated. Not resisting to the call of sarcasm, Scarlett cracked a smile.  
“Luckily you’re not me then,” She scoffed. “Where’s Newt?”  
Gally raised his hands to the sky and walked away, seeming annoyed for a reason she didn’t get.  
“What’s his problem?” She shook her head towards the Keeper of the Builders. Minho raised an eyebrow, making it seem as though it was obvious.   
“Why don’t ya worry ‘bout yourself first, yeah?” Alby asked her, a small smile spreading his face and his arms crossed over his chest. He seemed to be torn between yelling at her for breaking the rules and patting her shoulder for surviving the night in the maze.  
“Just answer my bloody question,” Scarlett sat up slowly, the flashing pain making it feel like she had been cut in two.   
“Your boyfriend’s okay, just a little dizzy from the blow. What happened to him?” Minho said, frowning his eyebrows but his worried expression flattened by his relax posture, leaned against the door frame.   
“Long story,” she laughed lightly. She didn’t say anything about the ‘boyfriend’ thing, knowing it wouldn’t lead her anywhere to start an argument over this with Minho.   
“We’ll let you get dressed and Jeff finish fixing you up. Newt was asking ‘bout ya anyway. I’ll tell him to come over.” Alby nodded before turning around and leaving the Medjacks’ tent, taking Minho with him.   
“You’re all fixed up don’t worry, it’ll just take time to heal. You’re forbidden from running until I tell you can,” Jeff informed her before handing her a stack of folded clothes and closed the door after him. As soon as he stepped out, Scarlett stood up, throwing her ripped shirt away and bringing her fingers to her back, evaluation the damages. Apart from the huge scar that already crossed her back when she came out of the box, a year ago, there was now another one. A twin scar barred her back, drawing a cross. A ‘x’ marked her back, and it hurt like nothing she ever experienced, but she swallowed the tears down.   
“Scarlett, is everything o- Oh sorry! I’m out, sorry,” a worried yet familiar voice came from behind her and the girl heard the door shut. She was standing back to the door and didn’t see Newt walk in. Grabbing her clothes and putting them on as quickly as she could before stumbling to the door and opening it, finding a blushing Newt on the other side.  
“Sorry,” he mumbled, turning even redder but a shy smile cracking on his face. Scarlett felt her face warm up at the sight of those brown eyes she loved so much.  
“It’s okay,” she shrugged, not really minding about Newt seeing her half naked. She knew he’d never make fun of her for that – unlike most of the boys, especially Minho. He stepped inside and shut the door. Silence settled in and Newt stood there, awkwardly swinging his weight from his right foot to his left one. “By the way, sorry for…” Scarlett didn’t finished her sentence but pointed to his head. Newt brought his hand over his wound.  
“Yeah, I think I’ll survive, don’t ya worry,” he smirked. “You saved my life,” he added, more seriously. Scar opened her mouth to speak but Newt continued. “You promised to save yourself first.” His tone was accusing.  
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same,” she crossed her arms on her chest but the gesture was clearly a mistake, she gasped in pain and Newt’s arms flew around her, preventing her from bending in two. He made her sit down and sat beside her on the bed.  
“You’re hurt because of me. If I could run faster, you’d be fine,” Newt said, blaming himself for everything that had happened, as usual.  
“C’mon Newt,” she said calmly, putting a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and their eyes locked. “I am fine. Besides, with or without your limp, you’re still my favorite,” she wanted to make him smile and it worked better than she thought. Newt let out a laughter and she smiled proudly. He laughed so rarely it was a delight to hear him laugh.   
“You’re my favorite too,” he told her kindly, his hand on her knee, rubbing gentle circles. “Scar…” he whispered as though he tasted her name on his tongue. “How does it feel?”  
“Like hell,” the girl brought her free hand to her back again and touched her fresh scar from the tip of her fingers. “W-what happened? How did we get out of the maze?”  
“I woke up and I found you bleeding and unconscious on the ground. I carried you back to the Glade. I guess we’re just luck I remembered the way out,” he chuckled, but the playful tone disappeared. “I wish I could have done more though.”  
“Hey,” Scarlett shoved him, distracting him from his murky thoughts. “We’ve made it! You can smile, Newt!”  
Of course it made him smile, but it was nothing compared to the huge smile that made its way onto his face when she kissed him on the cheek.   
“What was it that you wanted to tell me in the maze?”  
“Ugh?”  
“The thing that I needed to know in case we wouldn’t make it,” she reminded him. Newt’s face flushed with a deep shade of red and he mumbled awkwardly.  
“It-It was nothing, it’s nothing important, just f-forget about it, okay?” He stuttered, losing all confidence all of a sudden. It took Scarlett aback, she always knew the confident Second in Command, but Newt was acting so weird these last times.   
“What’s the matter? Tell me, I don’t bite.”   
When she said that she didn’t mean no harm but Newt turned to look at her and his brown eyes dived into hers, causing her smile to fade away. Was is that serious? Silence fell upon them and they remained still for a couple of minutes, doing nothing but staring at each other in pure awe, before Newt eventually broke the thickening tension between them.   
“I- I love you,” Newt muttered slowly, as if the very words were hard to pronounce. Scarlett felt like someone just kicked her in the stomach.  
“What? What did you say?” She asked in disbelief, not thinking one bit that what she heard could be the truth. Newt rose from the bed, jumping on his feet even though he should be careful with his ankle.   
“Told ya it wasn’t important, never mind, just forget about it,” he stormed off, ready to leave the tent but Scarlett caught his hand before he got the chance to sneak out.  
“Did you really just say you love me?” She asked again. She had to make sure it wasn’t just her fantasies which were making her hear wrong. It couldn’t be. Powerless, Newt couldn’t ignore her pleading eyes and he nodded. Before he realized, Scarlett had pulled him in for another kiss yet again. Except this time, they were safe and no griever would interrupt them. The girl’s arms automatically wrapped themselves around Newt’s neck and one of her hands ran through his hair, making him smile in the kiss. He brought his hands on her hips and pressed her against him, feeling as though she’d never be close enough even if they melted into each other. His left hand made moved to her back, slowly making its way up, causing her to gasp when it met her wound.  
“Sorry,” Newt uttered in the kiss.  
“It’s okay,” Scarlett pecked his lips one last time. “It’s okay,” she repeated, meeting his eyes. For the first time in forever, his eyes were smiling just as wide as his lips.   
“I love you too, Newt,” she told him, watching his puzzled face. “Don’t give me that look! You think I’d follow anyone else in the maze before twilight?” She shoved him and it brought him out of his trance.  
“Why, I hope not,” Newt smiled at her, laying a warm gaze upon the girl he loved. “You taste just as good as I imagined, love.” Grabbing his chin, Newt gently lift it up for her lips to meet his own and kissed her again, not getting tired of the feeling of her lips on his.


End file.
